


Healing

by MyKindOfCrazy



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: And by that I mean this takes place after that, M/M, Spoilers for the monsters reflection part 3, This is a Juno healing fic, let him heal and be happy please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 21:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15251970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyKindOfCrazy/pseuds/MyKindOfCrazy
Summary: It isn’t every day you get a second chance. Or maybe for Juno Steel it was, but he’d never taken advantage of it.





	Healing

It isn’t every day you get a second chance. Or maybe for Juno Steel it was, but he’d never taken advantage of it. 

Juno takes a deep breath as he pushes open the door to his office. It’d been far too long since he’d seen it. The door had been locked but the spare key he kept hidden was still there, waiting for him.   
He’s surprised to see the place clean, almost too clean. As if someone had hired a maid to pick up all the loose papers and keep the dust off the furniture, the few pieces there were.   
In the back of his mind he feels a tick. Something telling him to rush to his desk and call Rita. She deserves to know what happened.   
But he hushes that nagging. She can wait. Yes, she deserves to know what been going on but he’s not in any rush. He’s home now. This office will always be more of a home to him then his actual apartment. 

He takes his time. He figures out where his case files moved to, makes sure important documents and his personal items are still around. He spends a good few minutes just staring out his window at Hyperion City and enjoying the view. 

How long had it been since he had this? Since he let himself take a breath?

He pours himself a drink and sinks into his desk chair, pulling a comm out of the desk drawer and dialing Rita’s number. 

 

It takes at least a week to explain. Not because it actually takes that long but because Rita has to interrupt every few sentences to ask questions and talk about how it was similar to something she’d seen on a soap opera once. Juno doesn’t mind though. He invites her to the office and tells her the story of what has happened since he was gone, piece by piece, patiently waiting when she interrupts. 

“Something is really different about you Mistah Steel. You seem more relaxed.” Rita mentions one day. 

Juno actually smiles. “I… Yeah, you could say that.”

 

Things begin to fall into a routine again. Juno doesn’t go back to working cases, not yet. Instead he does paperwork, goes to the park, buys himself coffee from his favorite coffeehouse instead of hitting the hard stuff at 8am. He buys a little girl an Andromeda toy when her parents say they can’t afford it for her, and carries the mental image of the way she and her parents lit up with him for the rest of the week. He reminds himself that the small things he does do matter.

Every week Juno and Rita meet up at her house to watch soap operas and talk. Juno had always felt a little annoyed by her and her rambling, and that could still be true at times, but he was figuring out slowly but surely how to talk to her. How to have good conversations and get her to listen to him when he needed her to. He buys her her favorite chocolate as a thank you for being an amazing secretary. She almost faints in surprise but then eats all of it in one sitting while rambling about a romantic comedy she saw with a scene just like this. 

 

A month and a half after his return is when he finally asks Rita for help on something. It had been gnawing in the back of his mind since he woke up without the Theia. He’d pushed it aside, wanting to take it slow, take time for himself, but he had to address it.

“Hey Rita? I need a favor.” He asks, leaning back in his desk chair. “Can you do some research into Peter Nureyev for me? He’s always under a new alias but… I need to find him.” 

“Well I can certainly try boss but people goin’ under alias’ are always kinda trick- HE WAS REX GLASS? Holy moly Mistah Steel! I’ve found two dozen old alias’ already and these are from forever ago! This is just like this one show!”   
Juno lets her talk as she works, occasionally saying something so she knows he’s still on the line. 

“Why do you need to find this guy anyway?” She eventually asks. 

Juno pauses, sighing and drumming his hands on his desk. “Would you mind if I told you that story another day?” 

“But Mistah Steel…” She practically whines. 

“It’s full of drama, romance, and danger. I’ll tell it all properly. After I’ve seen him. Deal?” 

“Alright alright… This is gonna take me a while though boss…” 

“Take your time, I know if anyone in this galaxy has a chance of finding him it’s you. Thank you Rita, it means a lot.” 

 

It takes another month to find him, finally, under his newest alias. Part of Juno was impressed Rita managed to find such an elusive man, but he was oh so grateful.   
It takes another week from finding him to contact him. 

Juno feels his heart skip a beat when he hears Peter’s voice confirming through the comms he’ll come to Mars. He thinks it’s for a job. 

 

It feels like a lifetime, pacing back and forth in an empty warehouse. Without thinking Juno reaches up to touch the eyepatch covering where the Theia had been removed. His mind starts reeling. He’d planned so much but what if Peter doesn’t want to see him? What if he sees Juno and just turns around and leaves without hearing him out? What if he yells at him, hates him… 

Juno takes a deep breath and steels himself. He has to do this. No running away, not again. He knows Peter, and he won’t do any of that… Not right away, anyway. Peter is- 

His thoughts are cut off by the click of heels on the concrete floor.

Their eyes meet and almost instantly Juno’s vision gets fuzzy as his eye fills with tears. He blinks rapidly to push them back, trying to focus. He wants to focus, he needs to see. 

Peter Nureyev looks as dashing as ever, in clothes worth more than Juno had earned in his lifetime, his lips stained with blood red lipstick that looked equal parts attractive and menacing. It was so perfectly Peter.   
His face is a perfect mask, completely blank, waiting for Juno to make the first move. 

So he does.   
He takes a step forward. 

“I’m sorry,” he starts. “I hurt you because I was afraid. Afraid of a lot of things. Of you hurting me, of us hurting each other, of me hurting you… I had too many skeletons in my closet and didn’t want to admit they were there.” He takes a deep breath, and refuses to look away from Peter’s face. He needs Peter to know he means every word he speaks. “I’m not… I’m still me, Nureyev. I’m going to screw up. I’ll make you angry, and I can’t promise we won’t hurt each other but I can promise I’ll try. I’ll try my damndest to make this work. To talk to you when things are hard, and listen when you need me to. I’ll try. Because I… I care about you so much Peter it scares me. And if after all of this you choose to let me go, I accept that because… because I want you to be happy Peter Nureyev. With or without me.” 

Juno’s ears registar the sound of running before his eye can register Peter getting closer. Within a second Peter has wrapped him in a tight embrace and Juno breaks.   
He cries, leaning heavily into Peter’s chest and holding him close, afraid he’ll disappear. How had it taken him so long to realize he wanted to be with this man, whatever it took? 

“Oh Juno.” Peter’s voice is hoarse with emotion as he runs his hands over Juno’s back in a gentle caress. “I missed you so much you beautiful idiot.” Affection practically drips from the insult. “I hoped and prayed coming back to Mars would mean I’d get to see you again.”   
He pulls away carefully, cupping Juno’s face in his hands and smiling so brightly it could put the sun to shame. He wipes Juno’s eye gently. 

“Come here.” Juno grabs the front of Peter’s blouse and pulls him down, kissing him with purpose. He runs his hands through Peter’s hair and for a moment wonders if he’s dreaming because Peter is here and he forgives him and this… 

 

This is exactly where he wants to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I know this might be a little out of character for Juno but with the way things left off I'm so proud of him... He really is growing and so I wanted to take that and make it into a fic. He's healing. I can't wait to see where The Penumbra takes him now. Hopefully in good directions and bringing back my boi Peter  
> Anywho, I hope you enjoyed!!! <3


End file.
